Walid Jamil Amira

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Amira
was killed by sniper fire while covering clashes near the Damascus suburb of
Abaseen, according to Shaam News Network and the local press freedom group Syrian
Journalists Association who confirmed the death via email. Several opposition groups said Amira was
killed by a pro-Assad sniper, but did not offer further details.

Amira,
who was known locally as "Abu Omar," documented clashes and protests for the Jobar Media
Center, a group of opposition citizen journalists who film clashes in the neighborhood of Jobar and publish the
unattributed videos online, according to the reports.

The
Jobar Media Center posted a YouTube video that it said was taken on the day
Amira died and was the last footage the journalist filmed. In the video, Amira repeatedly says
"God is great" as shells explode all around him in Jobar.

The
Jobar Media Center has published hundreds of videos since it established its YouTube account
in January 2012. Similar media centers have sprung up all across Syria as
citizen journalists and opposition activists document how the unrest has
affected their communities. The Jobar Media Center's videos have been broadcast
by several local and international news outlets, including the New
York Times, NPR,
the Jerusalem
Post, and Haaretz.

The
documentation provided by citizen journalists has been crucial in the
international understanding of the Syrian conflict because of extreme
government restrictions and danger that prevent widespread news media coverage.

Footage
released by Jobar Media
Center shows Amira in a burial shroud lying next to a video camera.